Job shows concrete need for licensing

Today’s cautionary tale centers on a job that was supposed to create a new concrete parking apron next to Rich Casullo’s home in the Saratoga County town of Charlton.

Things went wrong, and Casullo wound up hiring another contractor to finish the work and clean up the mess the original contractor left behind. Now, he wants his $1,160 down payment back.

Rich Casullo

Almost nothing about the contractor’s version of events matches Casullo’s account. In fact, by the end of our conversation, Kevin Jordan of Jordan’s Paving was threatening to seek a lien against Casullo to collect money he claims he is owed.

And so it goes in the Wild-West world of unregulated home improvement contracting we have in upstate New York.

Such situations will continue to abound as long as our state and local governments resist licensing programs to protect consumers — and legitimate contractors, for that matter — and offer a reasonable and effective means for resolving such costly disputes.

Casullo, I need to disclose, happens to be a fellow Times Union employee; he is a superintendent in our packaging and distribution operation. That, however, makes his story no more or less compelling and instructive for the purposes of my campaign for home improvement contractor licensing.

This is, in fact, pretty much a textbook example of how even a contracting relationship that starts out fine can go sour. And it again illuminates the ways that licensing, a good contract, proof of insurance and other precautions could protect against costly misunderstandings later.

Casullo’s decision to hire Jordan actually started out with a case of mistaken identity.

A neighbor with a concrete driveway said she would contact the man who did that work to ask if he would be available for Casullo’s job. Casullo recalls that the contractor’s name was Kevin.

So, when Kevin Jordan stopped by and introduced himself early in June, Casullo said, “I thought this was that Kevin.”

According to Casullo, Jordan confirmed — incorrectly, as it turned out — that he did the work next door.

Jordan and his crew satisfactorily completed an initial $2,000 job that included installation of a new culvert pipe, grading and asphalt paving at the entrance to Casullo’s driveway.

“I was happy with that job,” Casullo says.

Then, the expectations for the concrete job were outlined in a one-page June 11 contract, and work began immediately. The early phases included moving part of a fence, breaking up an old concrete pad to make way for the new one and preparing the site for the pour.

But the job struck a big snag on the day the paving material arrived. Two workers carted the wet concrete from the mixer down the driveway in wheelbarrows, and it dried too quickly as Jordan tried to smooth it on a hot day.

According to Casullo, Jordan tossed his tools up in frustration, acknowledged that the material wasn’t spreading correctly and pledged to come back and “make this good.” When they spoke again a little over a week later, Casullo said, Jordan told him he’d be back as soon as he made enough money to rent a jackhammer.

It was early July when Jordan began chipping away at the bad concrete, Casullo said. Jordan failed to finish after working less than three hours on July 4, and he hasn’t been back, Casullo said.

When Jordan didn’t come back or respond to calls, Casullo said he finally reached him and said, “Obviously, you bit off more than you could chew,” adding that he thought it was time to hire another contractor with masonry expertise to do the work.

According to Casullo, Jordan agreed, and promised to refund the down payment in weekly increments. Casullo told Jordan to keep $200 that his wife gave him one day when he was struggling to remove the problem concrete.

After weeks of waiting for Jordan to finish, Casullo says the new contractor cleared the bad and broken concrete and finished the new slab in two days.

Jordan denies agreeing to any refund and disputes much of Casullo’s account.

Jordan says he worked all day on July 4 and planned to return to complete the whole job. A tire on his vehicle blew out, and he had to return the rented jackhammer. As he was preparing to come back at the job, Casullo told him he was hiring someone else, he said.

“When you hire somebody else, you forfeit your down-payment,” Jordan told me. “I would have finished the job. …I feel I did $3,000 worth of work.”

Jordan says he and his workers moved a shed and a fence and hauled away “three loads of stuff.” He alleges that equipment worth $1,000 remains on Casullo’s property and he says he did not agree to refund the down payment.

“It’s my word against his,” Jordan said when I pointed out differences in the two accounts, and he accused Casullo of “whining.”

Casullo describes the shed that Jordan’s crew moved as a light, plastic shelter, and he said the fence that was moved was a gate portion. Jordan would be welcome to the equipment he left behind if he came back to fetch it, he said.

I pressed Jordan on a few other issues and did not receive what I consider satisfactory answers.

When I asked if his business is bonded or insured, he claimed to be insured, but he refused to name the company providing coverage or provide proof. He told me he was licensed, but retracted that when I noted that no area entity issues licenses for home improvement contractors. He said he meant his business is “registered” in Saratoga County.

At first, Jordan declared there was no contract for Casullo’s concrete job, but when I said I’d seen one, he said he didn’t remember.

So, once again, I ask: Can anyone give me a good reason to deny consumers a system that would guard against such outcomes and provide a trustworthy avenue for resolution when home improvement jobs go bad?

In Albany County, there is encouraging news. County Legislators Gary Domalewicz and Phillip Steck, who originally proposed differing local laws, now are co-sponsoring a law that would establish contractor licensing in Albany County. Domalewicz hopes the legislature will pass it in October.